As a tire constituting member such as carcass ply of a tire or other industrial material, as shown by FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, there is used a so-called topping sheet A constituting core members for reinforcement by a number of pieces of cords C mainly made of a fabric and topping (covering) rubber Rat least on one face (normally, both faces).
In a background art, as shown in FIG. 13, such a topping sheet A uses a so-called cord fabric F woven by constituting warp by the cord C made of a fabric or the like and striking slender weft W serving as a connection coarsely at required intervals in a longitudinal direction for the core member and is topped with rubber by a calendar apparatus while drawing to supply the cord fabric F continuously in a calendar line having a roll-type calendar apparatus as in Patent Reference 1.
Further, when the topping sheet using the cord fabric F for the core member is used for a tire constituting member such as carcass ply, not only the weft in the fabric does not effectively serve to reinforce the tire, but there is concern about deterioration of a tire function that a uniformity failure, a separation failure or the like of the tire is brought about by presence of the weft, and therefore, according to Patent Reference 1, in the calendar line, after removing the weft while transferring the cord fabric, rubber is topped thereon by passing only a number of pieces of cords to a portion of the roll type calendar apparatus in an aligned state.
Meanwhile, in the calendar line, the cord fabric is wound in a roll-like shape in a state of being subjected to predetermined heat treatment and adhering agent treatment and is supported by a cassette type carriage and set to a supply portion to be drawn to be supplied by driving the calendar line, in this case, when the cord fabric is drawn from one supply position, the carriage needs to be switched by stopping driving the calendar line each time the cord fabric of one piece of the carriage is terminated, and therefore, a waste margin of the cord fabric in accordance with stopping driving the calendar line is increased, further, also a driving stop time period is prolonged to bring about a reduction in a fabrication efficiency.
Therefore, generally, two pieces of the carriages for supporting roll-like wound members of the cord fabric are installed at two supply positions, and drawn to be supplied continuously alternately one by one.
In this case, although the carriage can be set to other supply position while drawing to supply the cord fabric from one carriage, when the one cord fabric has been finished to be drawn, it is necessary to joint a start end portion of the other cord fabric to a finish end portion thereof. It is desired that the jointing operation can easily be carried out and can firmly be carried out without stopping driving the calendar line.
Patent Reference 1: JP-A-7-34379